LAST UP: Of Myths & Monsters #1-seed Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) vs. Sea Beastie #1-seed Saber-Toothed Anchovy (Monosmilus chureloides) #2021MMM 
On his path to tonight's battle, #1-seed Sabertooth Anchovy swirled Copepod, devoured Pink Vent Fish, mercy-masticated Vampire Squid, & demolished Midgardia Sea Star! #RipTide #2021MMM
Paleontology PhD student @acapomorphic at @MichiganEarth & colleagues described Monosmilus chureloides for the first time in 2020 & noted that unlike modern small-sized, plankton-eating anchovies, Sabertoothed Anchovy was a predator. #2021MMM royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.10…
Saber-Toothed Anchovy's large size, long gape with pointy, curved teeth & a single, massive fang. “He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess" -Jack London #2021MMM
In the 1970s paleontologists spent ~2 months in Pakistan searching geological formations for quality fossil terrestrial mammal sites but the "Domanda Formation appears to be entirely a shallow water marine formation yielding abundant fish remains"(Gingerich et al. 1979) #2021MMM
INCLUDING THE TYPE (& ONLY) SPECIMEN OF THE VERY COOL SABER-TOOTHED ANCHOVY (Monosmilus chureloides)! #2021MMM deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/hand…
On her path to tonight's battle, #1-seed Harpy Eagle impaled Goliath Beetle, snatched an #IncidentalMustelid feeding on Ghost Bat, disemboweled the Devil Frog, & intimidated Mandrill! #DeathFromAbove #2021MMM
Raptors are birds of prey at the top of the food chain. The word 'raptor' comes from Latin 'raptare' meaning to seize, reflecting their sharp talons that grasp & slay their prey. (Chomba & M’Simuko 2013) #2021MMM scirp.org/pdf/oje_201308…
Many eagles specialize as predators of fish, such as the African fish eagle, the Eurasian Steller's sea eagle, & the North American bald eagle. #2021MMM
[gif is flying bald eagle grabbing fish from water with lethal talons]
[gif is flying bald eagle grabbing fish from water with lethal talons]
The Harpy Eagle though, specializes in hunting arboreal mammals. Although noted for it's routine hunting of primates, up to 80% of the Harpy Eagle's diet can come from two species of sloths. (Aguiar-Silva et al. 2014) #2021MMM meridian.allenpress.com/rapt/article/4…
TONIGHT'S BATTLE IS IN... THE SEAGRASS MEADOW!!!! #2021MMM
[gif is beach lounge chairs facing the ocean]
[gif is beach lounge chairs facing the ocean]
Specifically tonight's seagrass meadow is in the shallow coastal waters of Isla Escudo de Veraguas of Bocas del Toro, off the Caribbean coast of Panama (image by Ablancob via Wikimedia commons) #2021MMM
Harpy Eagle arrives via #MMMagic & immediately seeks a tall tree vantage point to scan the small island for any arboreal mammal movements with her exceptional visual acuity. #2021MMM
The island has been "separated from the mainland for approximately 8,900 years" allowing the divergent evolution of Bradypus pygmaeus... THE PYGMY SLOTH! (Voirin 2015) academic.oup.com/jmammal/articl… #2021MMM
The pygmy sloth diverged from the mainland Bradypus variegatus. Due to nutritional limitations & relaxation of predation, the pygmy sloth displays insular dwarfism- it's "40% lighter in body mass & 15% shorter in overall body length" than B. variegatus (Voirin 2015) #2021MMM
But to the Harpy Eagle, the pygmy sloth just looks like a juvenile Bradypus variegatus... her most favored food. #2021MMM
Sloth is hanging on a tree branch by back legs & one hook hand foraging in the red mangroves, supremely unaware that a raptor is hunting... for the first time on Isla Escudo de Veraguas in thousands of years. #2021MMM repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand…
From the corner of its eye, the sloth sees the Harpy Eagle on silent wing heading right toward it- the deadly avian predator forces the sloth to instinctively make a rapid calculation... SLOTH RELEASES FROM THE BRANCH TO PLUMMET INTO THE OCEAN WATER!!! #2021MMM
Within this "shallow coastal marine environment" lurks... the predatory Sabertoothed Anchovy! #MMMagic has transported this fish to an ecosystem similar to the one he hunted 45 million years ago in the middle Eocene (Capobianco et al. 2020) #2021MMM royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.109…
Sloth begins swimming above the seagrass! #ExcellentSwimmers & pygmy sloths routinely swim in salt water! On Isla Escudo de Veraguas, sloths often choose swimming between tree stands bc they swim 3x faster than they walk #2021MMM treehugger.com/panamas-swimmi…
Harpy Eagle dives toward the swimming sloth, talons out!!! #2021MMM
SaberToothed Anchovy surges toward the swimming sloth, gape wide!!!
#2021MMM
#2021MMM
SPLASH!!!! THRASH!!!! #2021MMM
The Harpy Eagle & SaberToothed Anchovy have converged simultaneously on the swimming sloth! #2021MMM
The Anchovy's sabertooth has punctured the sloth's arm... but only shallowly because Anchovy has also caught one of the Harpy Eagle's ankles in his bite!!! #2021MMM
The smaller teeth of the Anchovy's lower jaw do little damage pressing the Harpy's ankle against his mostly toothless upper mouth!! #2021MMM
BUT Harpy Eagle's other foot is unrestrained! Her talons attempt to grasp the thrashing Anchovy & flailing sloth... with her front talons partially piercing the sloth & the larger, stronger back hallux talon toe wrapping around the fish... #2021MMM
HARPY EAGLE CAN NOT GET LIFT AT THE WATER'S SURFACE WITH THE COMBINED WEIGHT OF ANCHOVY & SLOTH!!!! #2021MMM
Harpy Eagle attempts to fly and "drag the fish <and sloth> across the surface of the water until it reaches the shore" like an African fish eagle... (Chomba & M’Simuko 2013) #2021MMM
But the combined weight of the sloth and Anchovy is still too great for the Harpy Eagle AND SHE COLLAPSES INTO THE WATER!!! #2021MMM
The loose hook hand of the sloth scrapes at the SaberToothed Anchovy's face to try and dislodge the impaling tooth! The face-scrape causes the fish to flail!!! #2021MMM
The SaberToothed Anchovy is slipping from Harpy Eagle's clutch... she doesn't have as prominently developed spines on the skin of her feet that help sea-eagles & osprey grasp slippery fish prey! #2021MMM
BUT THE HARPY EAGLE'S 5+ INCH HALLUX TALON, FULLY PIERCES THE SABERTOOTHED ANCHOVY, DRIVING DEEP THROUGH THE FISH'S "TWO"-CHAMBERED HEART. #ReallyFourChambers #2021MMM pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21925970/ & onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
As Anchovy's mouth goes slack, the sloth swim-slips from the sabertooth and the Harpy Eagle's talons gain freedom. The now freed talons of the Harpy Eagle further impale-grasp the 3-foot fish. #2021MMM
The triumphant Harpy Eagle is partially submerged in the shallow ocean water. She turns to "paddle to the nearest shore with her wings" toward a cluster of red mangroves (Chomba & M’Simuko 2013) #2021MMM
https://twitter.com/WMUR9/status/1138189353946112000
HARPY EAGLE DEFEATS SABERTOOTHED ANCHOVY!!! #2021MMM
But we honor the mighty Monosmilus chureloides, as never before has a sabertoothed combatant made it past the 2nd round in March Mammal Madness history! #2021MMM
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